Movies every teenager should see before heading to college

Parent Cafe
1

Some of our teens are so busy in high school that they haven’t had a chance to see some of the great movies that we grew up with. My D insists that the summer before college, she is going to be a vegetable and just watch movies.

I told her that’s fine (she has earned the break), but I get to add to that list. So fellow parents, what are some movies every teen should see before college? Here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order):

  • The Godfather (Part 1 at least)
  • Gattaca
  • Shawshank Redemption
  • Casablanca
2

I hated the Godfather and would never force someone else to see it.

Why not let her watch what she wants?

Personally, I’ve never understood the whole “everyone should do X before Y stage of life” things so YMMV.

3

Because she enjoys my input and this is one of the ways we bond. If that doesn’t work for you, move on.

4

The Breakfast Club.

5

Life is Beautiful
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Gone with the Wind
Wuthering Heights (Olivier version)
Schindler’s List
One Upon a Time in America
Forrest Gump
Field of Dreams
The Guardian
To Kill a Mockingbird
Dr. Zhivago
all Hepburn/Tracy pics
The Graduate
Rainman
Frequency
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

(how long do you want this list to be?)

6

Dead Poet’s Society
Winds of War/War and Remembrance (it’s available on DVD now)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

7

Bonus points for “Guess who’s coming to dinner”, because of Sidney Poitier, and the important lessons of that movie.

8

Ooh, something that I can actually contribute to. My list would include (in no particular order as well):

  • American Beauty
  • Pulp Fiction
  • Fight Club
  • Requiem for a Dream
  • At least the original Star Wars triloogy
  • American History X

These aren’t the best movies in my opinion, or even the most influential, but I think that they’re all important to see. Pulp Fiction and Fight Club are both highly influential pop-culture movies that every guy should see at least once, and most teenagers would benefit from at least getting references to these movies. American Beauty is a tale of white suburbia that every single middle class adolescent can relate to and the film takes on a different meaning as you mature and grow older. Requiem for a Dream is super depressing and the director’s cut is a bit graphic for some viewers, but I think it’s really important to watch. It at least made me appreciate my parents more and definitely reaffirmed my fear of hard drugs. The Star Wars trilogy is possibly the most important trilogy of all time and anyone who hasn’t seen them should certainly make a point of it. They’re nowhere near the greatest movies of all time, and a lot of younger viewers might be underwhelmed. But I think they’re fundamental to having a full upbringing as a movie watcher.

American History X is a pretty intense movie. But I think it’s important to watch and I think that it’s a good story that makes people who hold dissenting views from our own seem a little bit more human and easier to relate to. I have plenty of other movie recommendations (both older and newer), but these are my favorite movies that are pretty accessible and meaningful.

9

Classics the professors might mention, like Casablana. Citizen Kane, *Psycho{/i], *The Best Years of Our Lives/i, etc.

10

My mom’s main suggestions are Good Will Hunting, Shawshank Redemption, To Kill a Mockingbird, Schindler’s List, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Gone With the Wind.

I recommend American Beauty, American Psycho, Citizen Kane, 12 Angry Men, and Some Like It Hot.

11

I agree with @romanigypsyeyes, mainly because I am not a bucket list type of person. But I will share some movies that I have enjoyed and have encouraged my children to watch at some point in their lives:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
All of Hitchcock, but especially Rear Window, Notorious, and North by Northwest
Anything with Hayley Mills
Inherit the Wind
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Red Balloon
The Red Violin
Cry Freedom
Gallipoli
The Year of Living Dangerously
A Room With a View

12

The Hunting Ground

13

Sorry to be PC but please don’t recommend GWTW to a young person without explaining the role it played in perpetuating the mythology that slavery wasn’t really that bad.

14

Someone old enough to sit through four hours of movie or 1000+ pages of book will probably have learned a little bit about that already, I’d think.

15

I do joke with my girls that they need to watch some movies for the their cultural literacy - and some aren’t that great. So Close Encounters, Poltergist, The Sting, Alfred Hitchcock movies, Star Wars (first 3 released), Grease, One Flew Over the cuckoos Nest, Cowboys, Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth), Gallipoli, Dead Again (personal favorite), Bringing up Baby. Second GWTW, not because it is accurate but still a milestone film.

Also, Gilligan’s lsland, Brady Bunch, MASH, Third Rock from the Sun, …

16

Blazing Saddles because its just a great movie ( I’m a 22 year old woman who just graduated)

17

Robin Hood Men In Tights

Ruthless People

Chariots of Fire

The first Star Wars movie.

Tootsie

The Great Escape

18

agree with lots already listed - adding Double Indemnity (the classic film noir), Mrs. Miniver, Where eagles dare, the great escape, Back to the Future, Manhattan or Annie Hall, the sound of music

19

National Lampoon’s Animal House.

20

Here’s my cultural literacy list:

Vertigo (and other Hitchcock, as others have said)
Citizen Kane
It Happened One Night
Casablanca
Sunset Boulevard
The Graduate
Double Indemnity
The Philadelphia Story
Annie Hall
Some Like It Hot
Paris, Texas
Pulp Fiction
ET
The Dead (John Huston directed movie, wonderful)
A Clockwork Orange

Jules et Jim
The Bicycle Thief
8-1/2
Rashomon